Virtual Adepts

In many ways, the Virtual Adepts are effectively two Traditions that share a methodology. One variety consists of technomancers who use a mixture of Super Science and Science Fiction to explore advanced computer hardware and artificial intelligence. Many are hackers who firmly believe that information access, and various related technologies like 3-d printers, and eventually nanotechnology, have the potential to transform the world, eliminating poverty and giving all people both the knowledge and the resources they need to be truly free. Some of these Virtual Adepts are rogue Technocrats, most often from either Iteration X or the Void Engineers, who came to the Unions program as (depending upon the view of the Union in your Chronicle) either overly cautious and restrained by bureaucracy or greed or as inherently corrupt. However, most of these Virtual Adepts Awaken into this Tradition.

The other variety of Virtual Adept consists of technomystics who believe that the world is data. Some are convinced of the "simulation argument", which states that the world is a computer simulation created by hyper-advanced beings, others believe that the deity or deities that created the universe used mathematics to create it, and others simply believe that mathematics and information are fundamental aspects of the universe and that manipulating data can alter aspects of the physical world. Some Virtual Adepts look at the distinctions between these theories and state that all of them are effectively saying the same thing. In many ways, the more mystically inclined Virtual Adepts have more in common with the Order of Hermes than they do with the Sons of Ether, since they believe that reality can be altered by manipulating symbols – but instead of various ancient or exotic languages, like Latin or Enochian, these Virtual Adepts alter the world using complex computer code.

There is some overlap between these two varieties of Virtual Adept, but mostly the form opposite polls in the Tradition.

Virtual Adepts automatically receive a trinary computer, which is one dot Extraordinary Device, for free. This computer can be anything from a large desktop computer to a laptop or netbook, to an advanced smartphone. All of these devices provide the user with a bonus to a Computer rolls, with the larger and more powerful computers providing a greater bonus: